On Twitch, big streamers seem to be living the dream of many gamers: They game all day or just chat with their fans and earn millions, or at least that’s how some imagine it. But behind the scenes lies hard work and enormous pressure. For some, the success is too much. Now, popular streamer Stephen “jorbs” Flavall has spoken out and explained what lies behind the phenomenon of “streamer burnout.”
Who is jorbs?
- The American started streaming in 2011 – with the plan to make a career out of it
- He aimed to have around 300 viewers at the same time – enough to make a living
- He didn’t want to become rich or famous by streaming on Twitch
- He rose to fame with the deck-building roguelike “Slay The Spire,” and is considered one of the top players worldwide
- On Twitch, he now has over 100,000 followers, with up to 2,800 people watching him at the same time
By now, many know the big streamers like xQc, Asmongold, or Amouranth. But who were actually the streamers who paved the way for the following generations?
At some point, the chat becomes unmanageable
In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), jorbs spoke about his ups and downs as a Twitch streamer. In the beginning, he had only about 15 viewers at a time. He handled that well. He could interact with them, make jokes, and have fun together.
“It started getting stressful at around 200 viewers,” jorbs told NPR. Nowadays, he is closer to 2,000 concurrent viewers.
When so many people ask you questions and tell you what to do, it becomes absolutely unmanageable. I started having anxiety attacks that bordered on real panic attacks.
jorbs via NPR
How do even bigger streamers deal with sensory overload? For the really big streamers like xQc, even up to 100,000 people watch at the same time. Sometimes, not even the viewers can keep up, as this question on reddit shows. However, these streamers usually have mods and staff who can help them manage the flood of comments.
Smaller or medium-sized streamers are in a difficult position. For some, like jorbs, it becomes too much at 2,000, but they may not be big enough to seek outside help. As a result, they also struggle more against trolls.
By now, jorbs has a small team that helps him with sponsorship deals and interviews. The support from his community has also helped him a lot. However, building such a support network can take years.
Streamers feel like they always have to be on air
This problem adds to it: For most workers in this country, breaks and vacations are a given. For the self-employed, the situation is different, and this particularly affects Twitch streamers. Many feel like they always have to be on air, always producing.
This is how jorbs felt as well. During breaks, there is always the risk that viewers will get bored and switch to another stream – after all, there are millions of other offers on Twitch, and the competition is tough.
A vacation is out of the question. Jorbs was too worried that viewers might lose interest in his channel if he were off air for a week or two. Other streamers suffer from this too.
This is how jorbs is doing today: The situation for him has apparently eased. He believes his content is unique enough that viewers will return when he is away. However, he still rarely takes a proper vacation.
Events like TwitchCon may give the impression of a break, jorbs explains, but in reality, they are just working weekends. After all, you are not there as a private person.
Many streamers play a role; fans expect a certain behavior from them.
Streamers are pinned down to certain content
This problem affects “one-game” streamers: Many streamers are associated with a specific game: For jorbs, it was Slay The Spire, Ninja became famous with Fortnite, and Asmongold is inseparable from WoW.
When Twitch streamers want to show a different game, fans sometimes react unhappily. In the worst case, viewer numbers even drop.
Sometimes, streamers feel pressured by this: they feel they can no longer stream what they enjoy.
Those who are not as directly dependent on viewers because they are financially independent can also react with defiance.
These and other factors would lead more and more content creators to temporarily withdraw, NPR reports. Some may not return.
With “streamer burnout,” there is even a term for the phenomenon.
Some streamers find it hard to take breaks. For others, the time off is involuntary – they get banned from Twitch. The lost earnings during this time can hit smaller streamers particularly hard. Some are frustrated and wish for more communication from Twitch.
Twitch bans VTuber and she does not know why: ‘Losing everything overnight is scary.’
